Brace Yourself For the Return of the Console Wars

I hate the term fanboy, I really do. It is obnoxious and pigeonholes people into a box for being a fan of one thing or another while disliking the competition. What is sad is that with language comes change, and like it or not, some words become a part of the collective consciousness, and at this point, fanboy or fangirl is a part of the English language. So of course, a fanboy/fangirl is someone who is an obsessive fan to an extreme degree. For the past few years, while it is safe to say that there has been fanboyism in the gaming world, a lot of the vitriol and public displays have died down a bit because of the rhythm that we have sunk into. The Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 have all been out for a number of years, and the battles between fans have died down and everyone is pretty comfortable where they are.

An automatic assumption that the ps4/720 will be radically different than the modest improvements made to the wii-u?

The next iterations will follow the evolutionary path all other consoles have. They will have some improvements but they will be at the level of cost effectiveness.

I mean seriously, both 360 and ps3 could benefit with more internal memory and the 360 could really benefit from higher capacity media. To think we will get the PC style of improvements is a bit of a stretch.

The units will get a bump, no argument there but the ultimate goal from Ms and Sony looks to be about convenience and adding features or improving features to make a well rounded platform. Even more so than now.

Nintendo raised their bar just as Ms and Sony will raise theirs but there is a cost concern and return on investment all companies strive to achieve. You won't be disappointed by their next systems if you are interested in what they have to offer. If you are only a bleeding edge tech nerd...there may be som disappoint.

@darthv72 well said. I really don't get why people on here keep talking about power. Sony fan boys keep telling us how much more powerful the PS3 is than the 360 and Wii and that sony is all about power. They seem to forget that the PSX and PS2 were the lest powerful of there gens.

Its all about how games play not how they look. Yes having good looking games is good but not what makes a game. Look at COD. Not the best looking game out there but a lot of people love the game. Even Mario games don't look amazing but they are fun to play and sell millions.

I cant wait to get my WiiU tomorrow and have abit of HD Mario and ZombieU.

People are delusional if they think that that wiiu is the best a system can get for the price today. And a year is a long time in the computer world, prices can come down alot in a year and presumably Sony and MS wont have to spend money on a screened controller, so "yes" the ps4/720 can be a lot more powerful. Not to mention, they won have a gimped (Read: over a decade old PowerPC750 derivative) CPU or bad/ridiculously low bandwidth buses

The wiiu is a badly designed system, that cuts corners where ever possible. Why do you think nintendo wanted it to dissapate such low heat/wattages? Its so they can put a cheaper cooling system in it. The whole system is designed to make it as cheap as possible for nintendo. The only reason they couldnt get a cheaper GPU in it is because nobody produces a weaker one for less than what its got.

I'm simply staying away from sites like NeoGAF, certain boards on GameFAQs, and certain comment sections that I know will be full of incendiary and immature remarks because quite frankly, I'm totally sick and tired of the console war nonsense.

I don't plan on getting the next Xbox since I don't really care for Microsoft's business practices or exclusives, but I don't go around taking potshots at the 360 on message boards. What is the point? Does that make some people feel like they're sticking it to the man or something when they do? It's silly behavior that I can't deal with anymore. If we want the industry to grow up, we gamers need to grow up first-- out of this fanboy-for-this, fanboy-for-that mindset.

lets face it the PS3 just now came down to the $200 range. I have seen some really good $149 (I think that is right) 360 deals. Everyone is on the band wagon "Wii U's graphics are just slightly better" Yeah on the ports I guess. What people are failing to talk about is the Quote IGN "The Wii U difference" The gamepad if you have not played Assassins Creed 3, BOPS2, Madden13, makes the game, just that much better. Not the Graphics of a damn PORT. Now does the gamepad justify buying the Wii U version of a game if you already have it on another system? No, BUT for me I have BOPS2 for PS3, and bought Wii U. Just to see how it was I rented BOPS2. Now I wish I had waited one week and picked it up on Wii U. Its better, The gamepad does what No 360 or PS3 does. There is no argument. It is a fact. I know that Wii U games are going to look AMAZING, better than these ports. As with ANY new console the first batch of games are not going to be nearly as good looking, or playing than mid console cycle. That is a given on any system. So, with that said. What do we really want from next gen consoles? Just better Graphics and better AI? We all know that PS3 and 360 are going to be more powerful, but at what cost and what are they going to do differently than Nintendo at this point and time, that if I were to Buy BOPS3 on Wii U a month before PS4 came out ,and I picked up a PS4 and rented BOPS3 for it that would make me say Wow I wish I would have waited and picked this up on PS4 ? I can tell you it would not be graphics.

I think for certain games it is awesome. Not for all games. Like I said BOPS2, Creed 3, Madden 13. It really makes the games stand out. For these being ports of first bout of Wii U games, I am looking forward to see what happens a year from now. It also makes me very curious as to what Microsoft and Sony are going to do. I think Wii U is a welcome addition to the console world.